India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s3.4

c9.s3.4

Merchants were named after the nature of their business and the amount of capital they invested in it, *e.g.*, (1) *kraya-vikrayika*, whose main occupation was buying and selling (IV.4.13); and (2) *vasnika*, a merchant who invested his own money in business (IV.4.13); and (3) *sāṁsthānika*, a member of a commercial guild (*saṁsthāna*, IV.4.72). The last was probably the same as *sārthika* or *sārthavāha* mentioned in the Jātakas. Pāṇini also refers to other classes of traders, *e.g.*, *prāstārika*, one who deals in minerals; *kaṭhine vyavharati*, one who deals in forest produce like bamboo (*vaṁśa*) and grasses (*vārdha*, IV.4.72, *Kāśikā*).